In collaboration with

Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023

In the Middle East
Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook since 1926
 Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
Abstract
Globally and regionally, the outsourcing
and shared services (OSS) industry is
transforming. By adopting new
technologies, the industry is evolving
from a pure cost-efficiency model to new
innovative value-creation models. This
tech-enabled transformation presents
significant opportunities for the industry’s
potential impact and growth.
The OSS industry has exhibited this in the
past, and will continue to do so in future.
Across the world, the OSS industry has
entirely transformed and enhanced the
way organizations operate over the past
40 years. From tapping into economies of
scale to pooling resources and expertise,
businesses and governments can now
provide services they could not before,
far faster and more cost-effectively.
In recent years, innovations and
advancements have given rise to new
exponential technologies, leading to the
digital disruption and transformation not
only of organizations, but also of entire
industries and even nations. Of these,
cloud computing (CC), robotic process
automation (RPA), and artificial
intelligence (AI) are taking hold in the
OSS industry and anticipated to have
a significant impact going forward.
As the rate and pace of technology and
digital disruption increases, organizations
are struggling to stay relevant, fueling the
need for OSS to sustain competitive
advantage. Equally, such disruption is also
rapidly transforming the OSS industry
itself, leading to new and evolving service
delivery models. This presents not only
new challenges for the industry, but also
opens up new frontiers and opportunities
for OSS buyers, vendors and operators
across the globe.
In the Middle East, Arab countries are
undergoing major economic
transformations, targeting non-oil growth.
This has fueled the rapid adoption of
new disruptive technologies and raised
OSS as a key non-oil industry of significant
strategic importance, alongside ICT,
telecom and adjacent knowledge-based
industries.
Local OSS players are therefore similarly
exploring the potential for CC, RPA and AI
technologies to meet new needs around
continuous product and service
innovation, talent shortage, and rising
cost pressures. To this effect, the Dubai
Outsource City (DOC) Outsourcing
Outlook Forum 2017 report found that
a significant 29.3% of OSS industry
conference attendees highlighted their
usage of these transformational
technologies.
In this context, Deloitte has collaborated
with Dubai Outsource City (DOC) to
assess the current state of the OSS
industry, study the latest challenges,
trends and opportunities associated
with such transformational technologies
and anticipate the impact this will have
on the industry’s future.
The whitepaper studies the OSS industry
across these dimensions from a global,
regional and local UAE perspective, where
the UAE is one of the key OSS hubs and
gateways to serving Arab countries across
the Middle East. Based on this, the report
provides an outlook of the OSS industry
and offers a way forward for buyers,
vendors and operators to capitalize on
the opportunities that are present across
the region.
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Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

Foreword: Dubai Outsource City

Traditionally when people discussed We all know that every industry has been
outsourcing, it was associated with cost- impacted by technological advancements,
cuts, loss of jobs and delegation of tasks. and the OSS industry is no exception
But over the years, the world of with companies integrating artificial
outsourcing has grown more dynamic intelligence, automation, cyber security
and encompasses a multitude of and cloud computing into their processes
functions that add significant value to and systems – resulting in more
companies of all sizes, from start-ups impressive offerings and efficiencies.
to multinational corporations.
I remain convinced that the outsourcing
In the past decade, I have witnessed the industry will drive competitive advantages
evolving nature of outsourcing and shared for companies in this modern era, and
services (OSS) first hand in Dubai revolutionize the way we all do business.
Outsource City, the region’s largest
specialized outsourcing hub dedicated
Ammar Al Malik
to the growth and development of the
Managing Director of
OSS industry.
Dubai Internet City and
Dubai Outsource City
Companies are rapidly shifting their focus
away from merely contracting out tasks.
Instead, they are looking to work in
partnership with specialist outsourcing
providers to bridge the skills gap,
streamline processes and maximize
productivity. More importantly, businesses
actively look towards outsourcing
providers and shared services centers
for ideation and innovation.

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 Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

Foreword: Monitor Deloitte

Outsourcing and shared services (OSS) With this in mind, we welcome you to
like ICT and telecom are key industries the “Outsourcing and Shared Services
offering products and services that have Outlook 2019-2023: Global, Middle East
helped businesses and governments alike and UAE Industry Outlook”, a whitepaper
to expand their capabilities and horizons, Monitor Deloitte has developed in
redefining how they operate and deliver. conjunction with Dubai Outsource City
As OSS applies a high degree of (DOC) to assess the OSS industry, offer
technology, expertise, research and an outlook and way forward for the
development (R&D) to optimize business region.
models and operations, it is at the
forefront of industries impacted by new It has been an honor to work with DOC
disruptive technologies, in turn enabling on this important study and we thank
the transformation of its users. them for their vision, expertise and
support. We also express our gratitude
Across the world, buyers, vendors and to the OSS partners and the industry
Emmanuel Durou
operators of OSS are confronted with the experts that provided their invaluable
Partner, Head of Middle East
new disruptive challenges as well as insights in support of this paper. We
TMT Industry
opportunities these technologies present. are pleased and excited to share our
Monitor Deloitte
This is especially the case in the Middle collective insights and look forward to
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.)
East and in the UAE, where accelerated discussing your perspective on our
transformation is taking place at an report with you.
industrial and even national scale, with
ambitious modernization plans powered
by rapid technology adoption to become
amongst the leading digital markets in
the 21st century. This is not only fueling
significant demand for OSS, but also
positions the industry as a key strategic
enabler and success factor to realizing
national modernization visions.

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Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
Global OSS overview and outlook
The outsourcing and shared services
(OSS) industry has been rapidly
transforming the way businesses across
the world operate since the late 1980s.
Over the past few decades the usage
and application of OSS has become an
effective and common business practice
not just as a cost-cutting measure but
also as a time-saver and enabler of
innovation, acting as key to building a
sustained competitive advantage.
Defining the OSS industry
Outsourcing
Primarily, outsourcing involves an
organization hiring or subcontracting
another specialized company or individual
to perform certain tasks or functions at
scale. This includes both IT outsourcing
(ITO), involving the day-to-day
management and operation of IT assets
and processes (e.g. IT support, IT
networks), as well as business process
outsourcing (BPO), involving the
ownership, administration and
management of selected business
processes or support functions based on
defined measurable performance metrics
(e.g. finance & accounting, human
resources, customer & sales support).1
Figure 1: Global OSS Market – Spend on OSS (US$ billion)
1000
900 6.4%
800
700 635.8
606.9
600 94.2
81.7
500
154.0 159.9
400
300
200 371.2 381.8
100
0
2016H 2017H
Source: Technavio, Gartner, Monitor Deloitte analysis
06
Shared services
Unlike outsourcing, shared services (SS)
traditionally involves the centralization of
an organization’s administrative and back-
office functions (e.g. finance & accounting,
human resources, IT, procurement). While
this typically excludes core operations
(e.g. content creation in a media
production company), advancements are
enabling shared services centers (SSCs)
to expand across more core business
processes (e.g. payments processing for
banks), giving rise to a more global
business services (GBS) or integrated
business services (IBS) model.
Market overview and outlook
Globally, OSS has grown to become a
mega multi-billion dollar industry. Last
year alone worldwide spend on OSS
operations and services is estimated
to have reached US$ 688.4 billion (see
figure 1). With this representing almost
double the growth of previous years (8.3%
from 2017 to 2018 vs. 4.8% from 2016 to
2017), OSS market demand and growth is
significant and accelerating.
Historically, OSS largely focused on
traditional BPO. Over the years, various
7.4%
837.2
779.7
730.8
175.6
688.4
148.9
127.0
109.0
185.9 193.9
170.4 178.1
409.0 425.6 444.9 467.7
2018E 2019F 2020F 2021F
ITO BPO Shared services
waves of technology advancements have
driven the mass enterprization of IT,
which has given rise to ITO. Today, ITO is
estimated to represent 58.2% of OSS
spend, representing the vast majority of
the OSS market in 2019. This is followed
by 24.4% of OSS spend on BPO and
17.4% on shared services.
Going forward, socio-economic
turbulence and uncertainty across the
world is anticipated to exacerbate cost
and competitive pressures, especially on
multi-national businesses and
governments. Coupled with ongoing
advancements in technologies, such as
robotics and artificial intelligence enabling
new levels of process and cost efficiency
in parallel, consensus amongst industry
analysts and experts is that this will fuel
acceleration in OSS spend for a number
of years. As such, the OSS market is
forecast to grow at an over 7.4%
compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
from 2019 to reach US$ 971.2 billion by
2023.2 At this rate, the OSS industry will
exceed US$ 1.0 trillion, within the next
6 years.
CAGR CAGR
’16-’19 ’19-’23
971.2 6.4% 7.4%
901.2
240.0 15.9% 17.2%
205.8
212.0 5.0% 5.4%
202.0
519.3 4.7% 5.1%
493.3
2022F 2023F
 Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

Key growth drivers and trends Figure 2: Benefits and drivers of outsourcing
Cost reduction Question: How does your organization perceive the benefits of outsourcing?
Traditionally, the practice of OSS has long
been adopted by organizations to achieve
Enables focus on core functions 65%
cost reduction through labor arbitrage
and retain focus on core competencies. Cost cutting tool 63%
Naturally, these remain the ultimate
Solves capability issues 53%
drivers of OSS spend and growth. This is
illustrated in the bi-annual Deloitte Global Greater global scalability 33%
Outsourcing Survey (DGOS), where 65% Critical business needs 33%
and 63% of outsourcing buyers and
Enhances service quality 28%
vendors surveyed in 2016 cited a focus
on core business functions and cost Access to intellectual capital 26%
reduction respectively as the primary
Drives broader transformation 20%
benefits behind outsourcing spending
decisions (see figure 2). This was also Manages business environments 18%
found in the bi-annual Deloitte Global
Helps meet regulatory needs 16%
Shared Services Survey (DGSSS), where
40% of shared services operators
Source: Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2016
surveyed in 2017 highlighted cost
reduction as the number one driver
behind strategic decisions and Figure 3: Rationale and drivers of shared services

investments in shared services and 17% Question: What is your rationale for opening a new SSC, moving an SSC or consolidating SSCs?

cited the same for opening a new shared

service center (SSC), moving an SSC or Consolidate into existing SSC 19%
consolidating SSCs3 (see figure 3).
Reduce cost 17%

Strategic and competitive advantages New region served 16%

Yet, in recent years, the OSS industry and
Aid bus. expansion/acquisition 14%
its drivers have considerably grown as
organizations are now looking towards New capability/scope served 13%
OSS to achieve a multitude of strategic
Existing operational issue 8%
objectives beyond just cost. While cost
indeed remains a key driver, the ability Expand lanuage skills 3%
for organizations to keep up and stay Improve labour 3%
relevant in the modern age of disruption
has become equally critical. Organizations Improve services 3%

recognizing this are now also investing in

OSS to multiply performance (speed,
quality), reduce capability as well as
capacity gaps, increase agility, access
intellectual capital, reach new markets
and accelerate innovation across their
business from back-office support to
front-office product and service delivery.
Exponential technologies
The advent and adoption of new
exponential technologies, is now enabling
organizations to formulate disruptive OSS
Source: Deloitte Global Shared Services Survey 2017
solutions to achieve both core cost 81% of outsourcing
reduction and new strategic imperatives.
Organizations across the industry are buyers and vendors
recognizing this, with 81% of outsourcing surveyed previously
buyers and vendors surveyed in 2016
affirming the importance of technology as
affirm the importance of
a means to achieve these benefits (see technology as a means to
figure 4 on next page).
achieve improved cost
and quality benefits.

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Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

Figure 4: Importance of technology in Figure 5: Demand for tech-enabled outsourcing services

outsourcing Question: To what extent will the following technologies impact your future decisions to
Question: Do you believe that technology will increase outsourcing?
improve your organization’s cost and quality?

Software as a service (SaaS) 45%

19%

53% Bus. process as a service (BPaaS) 44%

Big data 37%

11% Platform as a service (PaaS) 34%

Enterprise mobility 30%

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) 30%

17%
Agile methodology 30%

Yes, cost and quality will significantly improve DevOps methodology 23%
Yes, quality will significantly improve
Bring your own device (BYOD) 23%
Yes, cost will significantly improve
No, neither cost nor quality will significantly Open innovation 22%
improve

Source: Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2016 Source: Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2016

This has led to revolutionary shifts in the
OSS industry, especially in service delivery
models, with the emergence of cloud-
enabled “as-a-service” models and
process automation seeing increasing
demand from OSS buyers (see figure 5).
Such disruptive OSS solutions are
challenging traditional OSS to drive and
sustain competitive advantage. Yesterday,
OSS was about cutting costs and
improving back-office services. Today,
disruptive OSS is about increasing
collaboration to integrate services that
organizations cannot build fast-enough
on their own, business process
automation and digital transformation of
shared service centers.
In response to this paradigm shift, more
than half of the organizations surveyed in
the latest DGOS are adopting, or are
considering adopting disruptive solutions
to drive performance, improve time to
market, and increase product and service
innovation.
Similarly, close to half of shared service
center operators surveyed recently
mentioned they are likely to implement
cloud computing and RPA solutions, with
almost a third likely to implement AI
solutions to increase automation in their
organizations (see figure 6).
The underlying exponential technology
trends driving this shift and disruption in
the OSS industry is cloud computing, RPA
and AI. Each technology in its own right
has had a profound impact on OSS, which
is examined in turn.

Figure 6: Technology adoption for automation in shared service centers

Question: On a scale of 1 to 7, what methods are you likely to use over the next 12 months to increase automation in your SSC or GBS?

Enhance ERP or core systems 12% 6% 8% 15% 15% 20% 24%

Niche “bolt on” tools 8% 6% 11% 20% 21% 21% 13%

Leverage cloud computing 11% 10% 12% 15% 19% 16% 17%

Implement RPA 15% 8% 12% 16% 15% 15% 19%

Implement AI 19% 16% 19% 19% 16% 6% 5%

Will not use Highly unlikely to use Unlikely to use Consider to use Likely to use Aim to use Plan to use

Source: Deloitte Global Shared Services Survey 2017

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 Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

Global OSS trend: Cloud computing

Cloud computing (CC) services are defined Figure 7: Objectives for adopting cloud
as standardized, highly automated Question: What are your objectives for adopting cloud? (top five responses)
offerings in which computing resources,
complemented by storage and networking
Catalyze IT innovation 64%
capabilities, are owned and hosted by a
service provider and offered to the Improve speed and time to market 63%
customer on demand. Such IT-enabled
services provide elasticity and scalability, Improve performance 56%
following a subscription-based or
consumption-based pricing model.4 Rapid elasticity and scalability 54%

Of all new exponential technologies Access to new technology 51%

observed in the OSS industry, cloud
computing is and has been by far the
Source: Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2018
most transformative to date. It has given
rise to many of the “as-a-service” models Figure 8: Mini case study on cloud computing
organizations are considering or have in OSS
observed and has fueled growth in
already adopted cloud services.5
supporting adjacent IT services (e.g. data
center services, enterprise network
The resounding success of this technology
outsourcing), which has catapulted ITO
in terms of market demand and growth is
into a multibillion-dollar market in its own
attributed to the range of key benefits it
right. European technology dristribution and
offers. It has enabled instant access to
service provider moves its HR processes
innovative technologies while avoiding into the cloud
Most notably, business process as a
mainstream challenges such as lengthy
service (BPaaS), which is simply cloud-
implementation times, high capital Challenge
enabled BPO, has now become close to a Exertis faced a challenge in
expenditure, and extensive planning. It
US$ 40 billion market and is challenging standardizing employee processes,
is highly elastic, enabling on-demand
traditional BPO (TBPO), at double the increasing efficiency of HR processes,
access to services, economies of scale and and reducing process duplication.
CAGR over the past 2 years (8.8% BPaaS
operational flexibility (see figure 7). These
vs. 3.9% TBPO from 2016 to 2018). With Solution
advantages have opened opportunities
analysts expecting this growth gap to The company implemented a cloud-
for OSS to transform OSS buyers, vendors based hybrid HR platform consisting of
sustain if not widen, BPaaS is forecast to
and Shared Service Centers (SSCs) a human capital management software
capture the TBPO share to represent
internal processes and develop new and and a payroll solution. The solution
almost a third of the BPO market in 2023. created a single interface on which HCM
innovative service offerings.
and payroll data could be easily viewed
Within ITO, infrastructure as a service and analyzed to bring in efficiencies.
From a function perspective, while cloud
(IaaS) is by far the fastest growing of all
adoption is significant across all BPO Impact
OSS services, having grown by over 30% The cloud solution helped in real-time
function segments, cloud-based HR BPO
CAGR since 2016. With analysts expecting tracking of workforce performance
is amongst the largest and fastest bringing in opportunities for
this super-growth to sustain, IaaS is
growing. Analysts estimate spend on HR improvement and change, faster
projected to multiply more than three-fold resolution of HR tickets, increased
BPaaS services to be worth over US$ 13.9
from US$ 31 billion in 2018 to almost US$ efficiency of HR and payroll processes,
billion in 2018, and expect this to grow at
100 billion in 2023, over 10% of the entire and eliminitation of duplicate processes.
8.7% CAGR to reach almost US$ 21.9
OSS market.
billion in 2023. Spending on packaged
cloud human capital management (HCM) Source: Exertis, interviews, Monitor Deloitte
Such super-growth and spend potential
applications alone is expected to reach research and analysis
on cloud-based services has led to very
US$ 4.7 billion by 2021.6 A strong case in
high cloud adoption by OSS players. This
point is Exertis, a European technology
is confirmed in the latest DGOS 2018, in
distribution and service provider, which
which 93% of outsourcing vendors and
migrated its HR processes to the cloud
buyers surveyed reported that their
(see figure 8).

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Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
Global OSS trend: Robotic process automation
Robotic process automation (RPA),
software that can automatically execute
routine, repetitive, structured work based
on rules, is now also taking hold. After
cloud, RPA is the most widely adopted
emerging technology across the OSS
industry. A recent survey by Gartner
found 48% of shared services
organizations are evaluating next steps
in RPA adoption and usage,7 and recently
the DGOS 2018 found that 72% of
outsourcing organizations are at least
considering or already adopting RPA,
citing performance enhancement, speed
to market, error reduction, streamlining
and access to new technology as key
reasons for its usage.8
Surveys conducted by Deloitte also
illustrate RPA is gaining widespread
acceptance, adoption and satisfaction
across functional segments (see figure 9).
IT and finance are the largest users (87%
and 83%) followed closely by HR and
procurement (78% and 72%). All functions
reported reasonably high levels of
satisfaction for RPA (all above 70%),
indicating how rapidly this technology
has already matured and how deeply
it has been adopted globally.
A good example of RPA adoption and
usage is visible in the financial services
industry, in which one of Australia’s largest
banks applied RPA to automate various
processes across its finance, HR and
other administrative support functions,
achieving significant cost reduction,
process optimization and more effective
resource allocation (see figure 10).
10
As the benefits of RPA in enabling Figure 10: Mini case study on RPA in OSS
business enhancement and expansion
are further realized, its acceptance will
only increase, driving continued growth in
RPA adoption, usage and developments.
This in turn will amplify RPA’s capabilities Australia’s fourth largest bank implements
and its transformative potential for OSS. RPA to automate administrative tasks.
Figure 9: RPA adoption and satisfaction
Challenge
in OSS
ANZ was incurring significants costs in
outsourcing administrative tasks (e.g.
finance, HR and support functions),
87% wherein the processes were highly
IT
manual and the majority of the
77%
employees’ time was spent on fixing
errors.
83%
Finance Solution
They integrated RPA bots in the existing
81%
systems of finance, HR, payments,
helpdesk support, and mortgage
processing to reduce these costs.
78%
HR
Impact
78%
The number of employees involved in
these processes decreased from 40 to 2.
These employees were then moved to
73%
Procurement more rewarding and high-value tasks.
72%
RPA adoption RPA satisfaction Source: ANZ, interviews, Monitor Deloitte research
and analysis
Source: Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2018

Global OSS trend: Artificial intelligence
Unlike RPA, which automates routine
and repetitive structured work, artificial
intelligence (AI) represents the next
natural evolution in automation, where
computer systems can perform tasks
that normally require human intelligence
such as intuition, judgement, creativity,
persuasion and problem solving. This
includes but is not limited to cognitive
computing, machine learning, computer
vision, deep learning and natural
language processing. Such technologies
have the potential to improve productivity,
ease decision making and interactions, as
well as enable a new field of innovative
services.
While AI is still nascent, some OSS players
are already exploring its potential by
enhancing RPA with cognitive capabilities,
enabling processing and analysis of
unstructured data (e.g. text, voice, images,
handwriting). Of the DGOS 2018
respondents using RPA, about one-third
are also implementing cognitive
automation, while another 59% plan to
do so in the next 18 months.
Another key use case is the emergence
of chatbots, programs that mimic
conversations with people using AI
techniques. Chatbots can automate a
variety of business processes from
technology helpdesks, customer contact
centers, HR recruitment, to procurement
and compliance checking.
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
Adoption of chatbot technology is fast
growing not only among OSS buyers
and providers but also across various
industries, predominantly in customer
service centers, enabling an enhanced
user experience with operational benefits
(e.g. 24x7 accessibility, high handling
capacity, low maintenance costs and
faster turnaround). A good example of
this can be seen in Autodesk’s adoption
and usage of chatbots for handling
customer requests, which yielded
transformative time and cost savings
at scale (see figure 11).
Such transformative benefits will in turn
accelerate adoption and developments
in AI-driven automation. The pace and
extent of this is illustrated in one survey,
which found 67% of industry
professionals reportedly expecting
chatbots to outperform mobile apps in
the next 5 years.9 As such, some analysts
expect the global chatbot market to grow
by 37% per annum in the next 3-5 years,10
generating potential time savings of over
four minutes per enquiry and a predicted
US$ 8 billion in cost savings for business
per year by 2022.11
Figure 11: Mini case study on AI in OSS
Autodesk uses a cognitive chat-bot for
handling customer requests.
Challenge
Autodesk transitioned from a perpetual
license to a subscription-based model
which increased the customer support
required to respond to queries. This
resulted in:
• Long wait times
• HIgher average resolution time
(1.5-2 days)
• Lower customer satisfation score
Solution
They developed and implemented a
chat-bot named ‘AVA’ to handle common
customer inquiries such as address
changes, login issues, payment issues,
and other frequently asked questions.
Impact
The chat-bot helped in improving
operational performance of customer
support functions demonstrated
through:
• A 99% improvement in response times:
cutting, resolution from 38 hours to 5.4
minutes for most Tier 1 inqueries.
• A drop in per-query cost from US$ 15 -
US$ 200 (human agents) to US$ 1
(virtual agents).
Source: Autodesk, interviews, Monitor Deloitte
research and analysis
11
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
Global OSS challenges
As industry-wide adoption of these
emerging technologies and the advent
of new disruptive OSS solutions start to
gather pace, a range of associated
challenges have emerged, with some
being amplified. When selecting a
disruptive OSS provider and designing
solutions, executives’ primary contractual
concern is data security, followed by
performance and resilience, and
providers’ compliance with laws and
regulations (see figure 12).
Cyber and data security
In today’s digital age, cyber and data
security is an ongoing challenge. This is
naturally augmented in the OSS industry,
given the nature of the business, typically
involving sensitive data being processed
or shared across different systems, third-
party providers and jurisdictions. With
both business processes and data
migrating towards cloud and automation,
the risks and costs of cyber breaches are
far higher than ever before. OSS buyers
recognize this and the need to proactively
monitor data, risk and security protocols.
As such, the percentage of outsourcing
buyers taking measures to address cyber
risks has dramatically increased from over
65% in the DGOS 2016 to 95% last year.
In 2018, 78% of organizations reported
that their outsourcing engagements were
audited within the past 12 months, in line
with 77% in the DGOS 2016.
Performance and resilience
A transformational journey to adopt
disruptive cloud, RPA- or AI-driven
processes and solutions can present
significant risks to existing service quality
levels and costs if not implemented
effectively. A high initial investment, lack of
technical expertise, organizational
resistance or simply a poorly contracted
deal with a vendor can also severely limit
the benefits of these technologies and
solutions.
12
Figure 12: Top 5 concerns with contracting disruptive OSS solutions
Data security
Performance and resilience
Legal and regulatory compliance
Loss of intellectual property
Excessive termination penalties
Cloud services contracting concerns
Source: Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2018
Approximately half of OSS buyers
surveyed in last year's DGOS cited
organizational resistance and process
fragmentation as their biggest
implementation challenges when
selecting an RPA solution and provider.
Shared services organizations are facing
this not only in terms of technology
adoption, but also more broadly in terms
of their shift towards a global business
services (GBS) model, with 72% of SSC
operators that do not have a GBS
organization citing lack of process
readiness, organizational support and
high costs as key barriers.
To address this, OSS buyers are now
taking a more strategic and structured
approach to realize performance
improvements and maintain resilience
through any transformation journey. Key
steps OSS buyers are taking according to
the latest DGOS include increasing the
scope of service in OSS contracts (34%),
transforming processes vs. lifting and
shifting (30%), investing in more robust
service integration and transition (28%)
and using external advisors (27%).
68%
62%
45%
48%
39%
42%
35%
39%
34%
38%
RPA and AI contracting concerns
Legal and regulatory compliance
While laws and regulations are important
to have in place, they typically lag behind
the latest technology developments and
tend to be more conservative and
restrictive in nature, making this another
key hurdle to overcome. Challenges in
compliance, with restrictive or even over-
regulation on data sharing and hosting,
can discourage adoption of public cloud
solutions, for example. In the latest DGOS,
for instance, 76% of OSS buyers surveyed
indicated regulations around data privacy
and protection are affecting their
disruptive outsourcing decisions.12
A well-considered solution strategy must
therefore strike the right balance between
achieving its benefits and meeting
regulatory and security requirements.

Global OSS opportunities
While the OSS industry is being
confronted with key challenges arising
from disruptive OSS technology trends, a
number of significant opportunities are
also prevalent.
Government: an emerging sector
Increasing economic pressures and
demands on the scale of public and social
services is making governments an
attractive industry segment for OSS
players, as they seek avenues to slash
costs, scale up, and retain operations and
jobs onshore. A good example of this is
the recent US federal government policy
announcements to re-shore jobs for US
workers.
Government bodies are also evaluating
emerging technologies to further cut
down costs. For instance, the Finnish
shared services center for finance and HR
(Palkeet) recently implemented an RPA
solution automating a variety of business
processes. By deploying two dozen robots
to free up to 116 full time employees’
worth of manual work and refocus staff
on high-value tasks, the solution will
enable Palkeet to upscale quickly without
working staff harder, to reach its
productivity goals and generate as much
as US$ 6-7 million in cost savings by
2020.13
Finance, HR and IT: the usual
suspects
Finance, HR and IT, largely due to the
transactional nature of their business
processes, are the most popular functions
to outsource and perform in SSCs. In the
DGOS 2016, outsourcing providers’ top
three services were for finance (100%), IT
(50%) and HR (43%). In the DGSSS 2017,
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
Increasing economic pressures and
demands on the scale of public and
social services is making governments
an attractive industry segment for OSS
players.
finance and HR were the top two Blockchain: an emerging technology
functions performed by SSCs (88% and still underexplored
63%). These functions are also the highest Blockchain, a decentralized distributed
adopters and first to be transformed by ledger technology; can eliminate many
cloud and automation technologies, all typical tasks and costs in traditional OSS
with close to 80% RPA adoption and models. For example, blockchain-based,
satisfaction rates in the DGOS 2018, for inter-company netting systems can
example. This coupled with plans to replace complex interdepartmental
increase finance and HR outsourcing (39% reconciliations, eliminate manual
and 36%) in the DGOS 2016, suggests inventory tracking paperwork in supply
that these functions will only continue to chain systems and accelerate trading
grow. settlements from days to hours.17 One
Japanese bank is even piloting smart
Mergers & acquisitions (M&A): contracts with an OSS vendor.18
a new niche
For M&A transactions, outsourcing is
recognized as an attractive alternative to
transition service agreements and in-
house integrations. Outsourcing solutions
free up key resources, improve time and
cost efficiency, and generate synergies,
accelerating integrations and yielding a
15-30% reduction in operating costs.14 In
recent years, there has been a surge in
organizations using outsourcing during
M&A transactions, from 45% in the DGOS
2016 to 67% this year.15 This marked
increase, coupled with a large M&A
market worth a potential US$ 4.2 trillion
in transaction value worldwide in 2018,16
indicates multiple opportunity paths for
OSS players in this space.
13
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
Regional OSS overview and outlook
Regional OSS overview
While OSS as an industry is established
and matured across most parts of the
world, it is still developing and on the rise
in the region. Traditionally, organizations
in the Middle East did not work with OSS
models as they preferred to retain full
control of their business operations.
Historically, operating under more stable
and buoyant economic conditions,
regional businesses also did not
necessarily have as much of an
impending need to do so.
Yet, over the past 15 years, increasing
economic volatility, intense competition
and higher operating cost pressures has
made OSS more attractive, leading to its
adoption and evolution into a multi-
billion-dollar industry of its own in the
region. The advent of digital, cloud and
exponential technologies, now
transforming various local industry
verticals, is also accelerating regional OSS
adoption and growth. One survey of OSS
players by Dubai Outsource City (DOC)
found that IT is the most outsourced
function (28%) , while another found that
43% of GCC SSCs are prioritizing
technology automation.20
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
region hence consists of at least 150
shared service centers21 and over 50
outsourcing providers.22 As the region
is unique with a diverse range of
nationalities (expat and local), multiple
languages, local dialects and cultures;
the nature of businesses in the region is
highly localized, driving the majority of
OSS players and operators with a
presence in the region to be located
either onshore or nearshore.
14
This is largely the case in GCC countries,
where OSS players tend to operate on an
exclusive regional model where serving
local businesses is the prime focus.
This is especially evident in the UAE
and KSA, where in terms of geographic
footprint these markets represent 50-60%
of the region’s SSCs and host a far higher
majority of MENA outsourcing providers
and buyers.23, 24 As such, the regional OSS
market is concentrated in these two
markets. Together, outsourcing suppliers
in the UAE and KSA alone have earned an
estimated US$ 2.38 billion mainly in
onshore revenues in 2018. Of this, 75% is
ITO (vs. 25% in BPO), driven by earnings in
managed services and hosting services
for local businesses. With double-digit
growth (12-13% CAGR) expected by
analysts over the next few years across
the full range of OSS services and
segments (BPO, ITO, SSC), UAE and KSA
outsourcing suppliers could potentially
earn over US$ 4.31 billion in annual
onshore revenues by the end of 2023.25, 26
Largest OSS markets: UAE
Of all MENA countries, the UAE is the
largest OSS market and most popular
OSS destination. Analysts have estimated
UAE outsourcing providers alone earned
over US$ 1.38 billion in onshore
outsourcing revenues in 2018 (US$ 404
million in BPO revenues and US$ 976
million in ITO revenues).27 As a regional
hub, the UAE serves not only local
businesses but also those with a pan-
Arab presence and operations in
neighboring countries. As such, a third of
MENA’s SSCs and most outsourcing
players are UAE-based, despite being the
most expensive in office rent and
workforce salaries.28 Recent SSC surveys
reflect this, which have found 60% of
UAE SSCs support businesses operating
across MENA. Key attraction factors
include its strategic location between the
East and West, easy market accessibility,
and a diverse workforce given its range of
local and foreign universities. In addition,
the UAE’s relatively liberal infrastructure
regulations, which includes the creation of
multiple free zones and creation of Dubai
Outsource City (DOC) (the only business
community in the Middle East dedicated
to OSS), have also enabled and attracted
many OSS players to bring their
operations to this region.
The creation of Dubai
Outsource City (the only
business community in
the Middle East
dedicated to OSS), has
enabled and attracted
many OSS players to
bring their operations to
this region.
Largest OSS markets: KSA
Saudi Arabia as the largest GCC economy
is another significant emerging OSS
market. While it is the second most
popular destination for OSS players, it is
also the fastest growing. Almost a quarter
of MENA’s SSCs and most outsourcing
providers are KSA-based, dedicated to
serving the Kingdom’s organizations,
especially in the construction and
government sectors.29 Like the UAE, Saudi
Arabia is also a billion dollar OSS market,
estimated by analysts to be worth around

Of all MENA countries, the UAE is the
largest OSS market and most popular
OSS destination.
US$ 1 billion in onshore outsourcing
revenues in 2018 (US$ 194 million in BPO
revenues and US$ 807 million in ITO
revenues).30
Key OSS markets: Rest of GCC
Kuwait and Qatar are also primarily
onshore OSS markets, representing
around 13% and 10% of MENA’s SSCs.
Bahrain as well. All GCC governments
stand out for the number of government
SSCs, which is similar to the trend and
best practices of governments in North
America, the UK and Australia – all mature
OSS markets. A good regional example of
this is the Qatar Foundation’s SSC in
Qatar.
Strategic OSS markets: Egypt
Egypt, the region’s most populous
country, with some of the region’s most
well established universities, is a key
knowledge economy and another
attractive market for OSS. Operators can
access a plentiful workforce and enjoy
one of the most cost-effective operating
environments in the region. As such,
Egypt holds 13% of MENA SSCs.31
Strategic OSS markets: Jordan
Similarly, OSS activity in Jordan is also rife,
driven by its own knowledge economy
and talent base, skilled in core OSS
functions such as accounting and
logistics. Organizations such as Azadea
Group, a premier lifestyle retail company,
opened a SSC in Jordan in 2017.32 In 2018,
business process services company
Teleperformance D.I.B.S also opened a
global delivery center in Jordan to provide
hybrid onshore and offshore delivery
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
across the travel, logistics, telecom,
financial services and public sectors.33
Strategic OSS markets: Rest of Levant
and North Africa
Francophone countries, particularly
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Lebanon,
also serve as low-cost nearshore
alternatives for Europe and even North
America. A recent SSC survey for instance,
found one of every two SSCs in Morocco
supporting operations in Europe.
Similarly, all SSCs surveyed in Algeria and
Libya were found to support operations
in North America.34 Across MENA, the
survey found a maximum of nine SSCs
supporting Europe and ten supporting
North America, potentially 10-13% of
MENA’s SSCs.
Regional OSS outlook
The ability and versatility in scope to
serve businesses locally, regionally and
internationally, with the range of attractive
options offered by each country makes
the Middle East a significant consideration
for OSS players. This coupled with already
high onshore as well as increasing near
and offshore OSS demand, a strong
appetite for ITO services and adoption of
new disruptive cost-efficient OSS-enabling
technologies will all not only reinforce but
also accelerate regional OSS market
growth.
15
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
Local OSS overview and outlook:
UAE in focus
Market overview
The UAE, encapsulating these OSS
demand drivers, is at the forefront of the
region’s OSS industry development and
growth. As mentioned earlier, it is the
largest in the region in terms of onshore
outsourcing revenues, driven mainly by
healthy local market demand to cut costs
of domestic operations. As the UAE is an
established regional and international
business hub, many UAE-based
companies also have business operations
across borders, driving significant spend
on offshore OSS as well. Additionally, this
drives spend by local organizations on
SSCs to centralize, internalize and in many
instances reshore some of their
operations at home in the UAE, making it
the most popular destination in the region
for SSCs as well.
Market size
Combining all of these demand drivers
and areas of spend, the UAE’s OSS market,
in terms of total spend by UAE-based
organizations on any OSS activities (at
home or abroad), is estimated at over US$
4.8 billion in 2018 (see figure 13).
Accounting for disruptive developments
impacting the OSS industry as well as the
Figure 13: UAE OSS market size and forecasts (US$ Billion)
8.0
7.0
6.9%
6.0
5.0 4.5
4.2
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
2016H 2017H
Source: OSS interviews, Monitor Deloitte research and analysis
16
UAE’s agility and rate of adopting and
harnessing new technologies, the market
is forecast to represent US$ 5.2 billion in
total OSS spend in 2019 and expected to
reach about US$ 6.8 billion by 2023,
representing a CAGR of 7% over 2019-
23.35
Market demand and supply
While local demand in terms of OSS spend
is healthy (over US$ 4.8 billion in 2018),
local supply in terms of revenues earned
by local outsourcing players (over US$ 1.3
billion in 2018) is insufficient, representing
less than one third (27%) of the UAE OSS
market. This suggests significant offshore
spend and a major undersupply by UAE-
based players to meet local demand. This
is further reinforced by the fact that only
50 out of 150 regional SSCs exist in the
UAE (a small fraction of hundreds of
thousands of UAE organizations that
could also have SSCs).
The apparent local OSS demand-supply
gap (implying room for local OSS growth)
and the healthy growth trajectory in the
UAE’s OSS spend (demand), even under a
more conservative disruptive scenario,
represents a significant opportunity and
ground for the OSS industry and its
5.5
5.2
4.8
2018E 2019F 2020F
players to expand the scope of their work,
services and presence in the UAE.
Market composition
Structurally, UAE market spend on OSS is
largely concentrated in a few key
industries and functional areas.
Market segments by industry
By industry, the majority of UAE OSS
spend emanates from the financial
services industry (FSI), representing a
significant 36% share of OSS spend in
2018. In line with global OSS trends, FSI is
by far the largest spender on OSS. This is
followed by the public sector (UAE
government entities), travel, hospitality &
leisure (THL) industry, and telecoms
industry (operators), representing 16%,
12% and 6% of UAE OSS spend
respectively (see figure 14). Other
prominent industries with high OSS spend
levels include oil & gas (O&G), retail,
services and construction, collectively with
other industries representing the
remaining 30% of UAE OSS spend.
FSI companies in particular, consisting of
large banks and insurance companies, are
the longest standing and most mature
OSS users, locally and globally.
7.0%
6.8
6.4
5.9
2021F 2022F 2023F

Figure 14: OSS spend by industry 2018
36%
30%
US$ 4.87
billion
16%
12%
6%
FSI
THL
Telecommunications
Government (Non-oil)
Remaining industries
Source: OSS interviews, Monitor Deloitte research
and analysis
The industry is highly competitive and
aggressive in its application of OSS to
maximize profitability from its operations.
As such, FSI organizations outsource and
carve out the widest array of support
functions and business activities, from the
processing of insurance claims to handling
of mortgage applications. UAE FSI policies
and regulations, such as the UAE Central
Bank and Ministry of Finance policies
mandating banks to retain key and costly
parts of their operations onshore (e.g.
compliance), are retaining and even
stimulating local OSS spend. The need for
experienced call center agents to handle
high value UAE clients with care across
multiple languages (especially in Arabic) is
also driving spend on specialized local call
center services. For instance, Dunia set up
its own SSC Dunia Services to facilitate not
only call center services but also IT and
procurement as well.
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
After FSI, THL companies are amongst
the major OSS spenders in the UAE,
predominantly investing in outsourcing
non-core functions such as customer
support. THL companies are increasingly
outsourcing their call center services
across the UAE. Prominent examples of
this include Jumeirah Group, one of the
UAE’s top THL companies, which has set
up its own SSC in DOC, including call
center and housekeeping services.
Market segments by function
By function, UAE OSS spend is
concentrated across two key functions, IT
and customer support, which together
represent 83% of UAE OSS spend (see
figure 15).
This is naturally in line with global OSS
market trends, as IT represents 62% of
UAE OSS spend and ITO represents 58%
of the global OSS market. The IT function
is the most commonly outsourced as it
relies on disruptive and ever-evolving
technologies, requiring specialized skills
and teams to operate at scale and cost.
Customer support, representing 21% of
UAE OSS spend, remains largely focused
on call center services. However, local
OSS players are increasingly spending
on applying automated call routing and
chatbot technologies to maximize the
capacity and efficiency of customer call
handling and support.
By function, UAE OSS spend is
concentrated across two key functions,
IT and customer support, which
together represent 83% of UAE OSS
spend. This is naturally in line with
global OSS market trends.
Figure 15: OSS spend by function 2018
10%
62%
21%
US$ 4.87
billion
2%
5%
IT HR and Admin
Procurement Customer support
Finance
Source: OSS interviews, Monitor Deloitte research
and analysis
Although the majority of OSS spend is on
IT and customer support functions, the
UAE, in line with global trends, is also
becoming a more cross-functional OSS
market. HR & administration, for instance,
represents a sizeable 10% of UAE OSS
spend, followed by procurement at 5%.
Finance, representing 2% of OSS spend,
is another emerging function, driven by
the increased outsourcing of traditional
payment operations as well as the
introduction of new tax laws across the
GCC (e.g. VAT in UAE, KSA and soon
Bahrain).
17
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

Landscape of OSS players

The landscape of OSS players in the UAE, The landscape of OSS players in the
given the strong market demand for OSS,
is plentiful and diverse. There are over 100 UAE, given strong market demand for
OSS players in the UAE market, almost
evenly split between outsourcing and OSS, is plentiful and diverse. There are
shared services centers (see figure 16).
over 100 OSS players in the UAE market,
Across key OSS areas and sectors
(industries), the UAE market hosts players almost evenly split between outsourcing
ranging from major traditional
international BPOs (e.g. Teleperformance, and shared services centers.
Manpower) and ITOs (e.g. Cognizant, SAP,
Oracle, Microsoft, Wipro, Atos), to
Even with this number and level of OSS The figure below highlights a selection
homegrown champions (e.g. Dunia,
players, the market still has plenty of of key players across different sectors
Dulsco, Back Office, Alpha Data).
opportunity and room for growth, which (industries) for the OSS market in the UAE.
has enabled recent market entries from
The range and spectrum of players makes
tech giants including the likes of Amazon
the UAE not only a relatively fragmented
Web Services and Alibaba Cloud to carve
OSS market but a significantly competitive
out their own position in UAE’s vast and
one as well.
fast growing ITO segment.

Figure 16: UAE OSS market players (selection)

Service area
Sector
Shared Service Centers (SSCs) Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) IT Outsourcing (ITO)

FSI

THL

Others

Source: Dubai Outsource City, IDC, Gartner, Monitor Deloitte research and analysis

18
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

19
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
UAE in focus: Key OSS trends and developments
Traditionally, UAE OSS spend was driven
by simple cost-cutting mechanisms,
achieved mainly through labor arbitrage
and outsourcing high volume
transactional processes (enabling lower
transaction costs through economies of
scale). Over the years, OSS benefits
encouraged a wider range of business
processes to be outsourced or shared,
with players improving their OSS delivery
capabilities and consolidating a wider
range of OSS services to generate not
only cost efficiencies but also unlock
operational efficiencies.
The advent and adoption of new
disruptive technologies such as cloud has
since advanced OSS players’ capability,
agility and scale, in turn driving
improvements in their service delivery
quality, time and cost. As with the global
OSS industry, this has been central to
driving the increased demand and spend
behind the UAE OSS industry’s growth.
While the UAE OSS industry is still
developing and catching up to global
market levels, adoption and progress is
fast. This is illustrated in DOC’s recent
survey of UAE OSS players in 2017, in
which 29% of respondents highlighted
that they are already using
transformational technologies such as
RPA, cognitive intelligence, cloud and big
data (see figure 17).
The uptake of these technologies has
been driven by favorable government
initiatives such as the UAE e-Government
While the UAE OSS
industry is still developing
and catching up to global
market levels, adoption
and progress is fast.
20
Strategy, UAE Innovation Strategy, UAE
Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, and
alignment with the objectives of the UAE
Centennial 2071 Strategy.
Figure 17: Technology adoption by UAE
OSS players 2017
Usage of transformational technologies such
as robotic process automation, cognitive
intelligence, cloud and big data
19%
29%
9%
22%
21%
Already using it
Currently implementing solution
Considering it
Not in the next 12 months
Not applicable
Source: DOC Outsourcing Outlook Forum 2017
(Post Event Report)
Cloud computing
Seen as key to national advancement by
government and an essential enabler by
businesses, cloud computing is the first
and foremost technology undergoing
rapid adoption and super-growth in the
UAE. The country ranks highest in the
MENA Cloud Competitiveness Index,
driven by strong government policy
initiatives (e.g. the development of a
cloud-first policy strategy and guidelines
by the telecom regulator36), improvements
in the connectivity quality to cost ratio, as
well as the country’s capacity to overcome
plus willingness to accept business risks
associated with cloud adoption (e.g. cyber
security).37
The benefits driving this are also
significant. A recent study by Google and
Deloitte found that Google Cloud usage
by businesses in the UAE alone directly
contributed a combined US$ 10-40
million in revenue expansion and cost
savings. The indirect economic impact
is even wider, with every US$ 1 million
spend on cloud services in the UAE
estimated to have generated a
downstream incremental US$ 30-110
million in UAE GDP output over the
past year.38
Such benefits coupled with a strong local
environment has led to the fast-paced
adoption and spend on cloud services
across both the public and private
sectors, providing ideal market conditions
for cloud-based OSS providers and
services. Prominent examples include Abu
Dhabi’s G-Cloud and Dubai’s CloudOne
platforms, intended at easing access to IT
resources for all local government
entities.39 In such demand conditions,
analysts estimate UAE spend on cloud
services to have already crossed US$ 200
million in 2018, and forecast it to reach
almost US$ 300 million by 2020,
exceeding US$ 500 million by 2023.40
Robotic process automation
Unlike cloud, RPA is still a relatively more
nascent technology for the UAE than in
other parts of the world, but with plenty
of room for growth. A recent survey found
80% of ME businesses (largely from the
UAE) still have not chosen an RPA solution
provider yet, but have plans to do so in
the next 6-18 months, with 54% currently
considering BPOs to support intelligent
automation implementations.41

While FSI companies are amongst the
early adopters and investors in RPA,
others from across the economic
spectrum such as Landmark Group,
ENOC and Emaar Hospitality, as well as
various government entities, have also
implemented RPA solutions already.42 One
Dubai government entity achieved a 68%
reduction in the average processing time
of general and legal customer enquiries
handling by implementing bots at key
stages of its enquiry handling processes
in its contact center (see figure 18).
Figure 18: Mini case study on RPA in local OSS
Created an omni-channel contact center
for managing general and legal enquiries
related to the ministry.
Challenge
• Maneuvering between screens was
tedious for an advisor and to add to it
the advisor had to perform 14 steps to
complete the activity.
• Average time for this activity due to the
above was anywhere between 22-25
seconds.
• Computer telephony integration (CTI)
integration with the voice platform.
Solution
• After creating the process flow chart,
identified areas where BOT can be
deployed.
Impact
• 68% reduction in average processing
time.
• Customers can be better served as the
advisor is now able to focus on
providing prompt responses to queries
and can avoid redundant tasks.
• No breach of security as it mimics the
advisor’s actions.
Source: Dubai Government entity, interviews,
Monitor Deloitte research and analysis
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
UAE BPO players are taking advantage of
the rising traction of RPA by developing
their own suite of RPA solutions,
leveraging automation to transition from
traditional BPO services towards BPM
(business process management) services.
Teleperformance D.I.B.S., for instance, has
developed a service called “Phantom RPA
(PRPA)”, which automates back-office
functions, manual support processes and
provides intelligent data analytics and
reporting for decision support. The
solution claims to improve productivity
efficiency by 30%.43
Artificial intelligence
As with RPA, AI is also in its early stages of
adoption in the UAE. However, like cloud,
the government also sees AI as key to the
UAE’s future, taking major steps to boost
its development and usage. The
appointment of an AI Minister and launch
of the UAE Strategy for Artificial
Intelligence is a world-first, outlining
government plans, demand and
investment to harness AI as the ‘next
wave’ of underlying technology to drive
the UAE’s smart government
infrastructure and public service
delivery.44
Some instances of AI-based services have
since emerged in the UAE. The most
prevalent are chatbots for customer
support (e.g. Emirates NBD’s virtual
assistant “EVA”, Mashreq Bank’s “Mashreq
Bot”, DEWA’s “Rammas” chatbot).45
Instances of other AI applications include
intelligent analytics for decision support
(e.g. AI-supported hospital management
systems for the Ministry of Health and
Prevention),46 cognitive computing (e.g.
Smart Dubai and Dubai Economic
Development “Saad” service to support
automated business license
registration),47 speech analytics and
processing as well as AI solutions
consisting of a combination of such
services and capabilities.48
Many if not all such AI services are applied
and supported by local OSS operators
and providers. Teleperformance D.I.B.S.,
for example, offers AI-based customer
support services, which has helped
airlines reduce customer enquiry
handling times by 12% and costs by 30%
(see figure 19).
Figure 19: Mini case study on AI in local OSS
BPO organization improves customer
experience and reduces customer service
costs through cloud and AI
Challenge
• Inflexible service delivery model and
outdated technologies in business
processes.
• Increasing customer expectations in
terms of service quality, and user
experience in the travel and
hospitality sector.
Solution
• The organization shifted its business
processes to the cloud for overcoming
inflexible service delivery models.
• They developed an AI and RPA-based
solution called ‘IFARE’ which automated
the process of calculation refunds and
schedule change charges for airline
bookings.
Impact
• Through this solution, the organization
has improved average handling time by
12% and reduced customer service
costs by 30%.
Source: Teleperformance D.I.B.S, interviews,
Monitor Deloitte research and analysis
21
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
While such examples of AI applications
are limited, recent studies show that AI
uptake in the UAE is now approaching a
critical inflection point, expected soon to
switch to high-paced growth. A recent
survey of ME businesses (largely from the
UAE) found 83% of respondents claimed
to be either planning, piloting or
implementing AI solutions in the next 6-
18 months.49 Analysts’ forecasts also
suggest UAE spend on cognitive and AI
systems specifically could grow at least
30% per annum from around US$ 15
million at the end of 2018 to reach close
to US$ 100 million in 2025.50
Of this spend, analysts expect it to be
focused on AI-supported IT and business
services provided by the OSS industry (vs.
stand-alone AI software and hardware for
independently developed AI solutions).51
By sector, spend is anticipated to be led
by FSI (representing a 25% share of
spend) and public sector (government,
education, and health care collectively
representing close to a 20% share of
spend),52 in line with wider technology
adoption and OSS industry trends.
As AI proliferates across the UAE’s
various economic sectors and sections
of society, new use cases for AI will also
emerge, with analysts expecting further
AI applications in defense, government
intelligence, fraud analysis and
investigation.
22
As AI proliferates across the UAE’s various
economic sectors and sections of society,
new use cases for AI will also emerge, with
analysts expecting further AI applications
in defense, government intelligence, fraud
analysis and investigation.53
SMEs turning towards outsourcing
At home and abroad, the SME segment is
large and expanding quickly. There are
over 350,000 SMEs in the UAE,
representing 94% of UAE companies, 86%
of the workforce, and generating 60% of
non-oil GDP.54 Since 2016, the
government has been working towards
fostering the launch of 40,000 new start-
ups by 2021, which, according to the
Ministry of Economy, would grow SME
contribution to non-oil GDP by 16% to
reach 70% by 2021.55
As local SMEs face tighter budgets, the
need to scale fast at cost, and experience
greater business volatility, they are turning
to newer low-cost technologies and
outsourcing solutions. To this effect, a
recent survey found 70% of Dubai start-
ups are already using cloud computing
resources, 80% of which plan to increase
the spend and range of cloud services
they are using.56 Outsourcing vendors are
responding quickly to SME demand.
Vendors such as Transguard Group have
launched low-cost outsourcing solutions
designed to cut SME overheads and
increase their business efficiency,
providing solutions mainly for admin, IT,
HR, finance and procurement functions.57

UAE in focus: OSS opportunities
The benefits and growth in OSS demand
and spend driven by these key trends and
developments illustrates how the UAE OSS
industry has, still is and will continue to be
positively disrupted. To stay on top of this
disruptive wave, OSS players need to
capitalize on the impending opportunities
that remain and new ones that lie ahead:
upgrading to the right capability
(harnessing new technology), targeting the
right buyers (emerging sectors), and
offering the right services (evolving
functions).
Harnessing new technology
Big data analytics and cloud is no longer
an option; it is fast becoming mainstream
in the industry and essential to stay
relevant. RPA and AI, while still nascent
today, will in a couple of years represent
the next wave of OSS in the UAE.
Blockchain is another natural extension
to this, with its own set of OSS use cases
(e.g. as a layer of data security, enabling
auditing of data used in automated and
cognitive processes). The Emirates
Blockchain Strategy 2021, which aims to
migrate 50% of all government
transactions to blockchain by 2021,58 will
also significantly boost adoption of this
technology and encourage spending on
OSS solutions leveraging it. Despite this,
blockchain remains largely unexplored by
the OSS industry, but also represents a
major opportunity of its own.
Collectively, OSS supported by these new
technologies alone represent a billion-
dollar opportunity. OSS players who build
and upgrade their capabilities today by
harnessing these new technologies could
tap into this, make a significant market
impact and reap the benefits.
Emerging sectors: Government
While FSI organizations are catered to well
by the OSS industry, government and
public sector entities are still largely
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
underserved. The UAE government has
established a major roadmap to
outsource most government services to
the private sector,59 to help achieve its
smart city and smart government
ambitions60 (e.g. call centers for customer
support). Complimenting this, the UAE’s
National Programme for Happiness and
Positivity reinforces the need for citizen
satisfaction and happiness with simple,
efficient, cost-effective government
services,61 achieved by effective OSS.
These directives coupled with the latest
set of national new technology strategies
will generate incredible growth in UAE OSS
spend, as UAE government OSS spend is
anticipated to exceed US$ 1 billion in
2023.
Evolving functions: Omni-channel
customer service
Technology developments and
advancements in customer service
expectations have resulted in a paradigm
shift in the way customers interact with
organizations. UAE customers are
demanding more digital interactions (e.g.
instant messaging, social media and virtual
assistants) with an omni-channel
customer service (OCCS: seamless
interaction and service across multiple
platforms and communication channels
working together in parallel). This is driving
demand and spend on more digitally-
enabled and integrated OCCS OSS
solutions to help manage and optimize
the customer experience (e.g. track
interactions, servicing enquiries and
feedback). A good example of this is Raya’s
omni-channel solution, which unified a
leading automotive manufacturer’s
customer care channels, enabling a 360
view of its customer support processes
(see figure 20).
UAE OSS providers are already offering
traditional call center services, which today
are worth just over US$ 1 billion. But to
protect and expand their position, OSS
Figure 20: Mini case study on OCCS in local
OSS
Raya helped a leading automotive
manufacturer streamline its customer
service experience.
Challenge
• Client sought to centralize and unify
their customer care oprations (voice,
email, chat, social media)
• Customer experience was poor due to
inconsistency among different
channels. The customer care services
were provided by marketing agencies.
Solution
• Integrated the previously siloed
paltforms including – CRM (Oracle
Siebel), social media tools
(Sprinkler/Spredfast), and web-chat
tool (LiveChat) to create a single
consolidated place for all customer
interactions.
• The solution provided the client 360
degree visibility of customer support
services.
• Incorporated social media new
business model into existing, customer
care support provided across all
countries. Facilitated development of
customized marketing, sales, support
programs.
Impact
• Provided consistent and unified
customer care support across all
channels.
• Increase overall efficiency and
improved first contact resolution (FCR)
rates.
• Increased sales volume as a reflection
of an enhanced customer experience.
Source: Raya, interviews, Monitor Deloitte research
and analysis
players will need to upgrade and digitize
their customer support offering as it
migrates into a more ITO-based service
(e.g. chatbots replacing manned customer
service teams).
23
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
UAE in focus: Way forward
Today, the terms “outsourcing” and
“shared services” have gone beyond mere
cost-cutting measures. OSS has
transformed into a key business strategy,
enabling firms to give maximum attention
to their core competencies.
The outlook for the UAE OSS industry is
positive as long as buyers and suppliers
keep at the forefront of innovation. With
the DGOS 2016 highlighting that 71% of
OSS buyers believe technology adoption
would make ‘location’ a far less relevant
factor in outsourcing decisions, UAE OSS
players need to leverage these
exponential technologies to compete not
just locally but also internationally.
With cloud computing going mainstream,
coupled with RPA and AI entering their
next phase of adoption, many business
processes handled by traditional BPOs
will become digitized, automated and
evolve into IT-based processes and
services, such that IT by our estimates will
represent over 90% of UAE OSS spend by
2023 (vs. around 60% today). OSS players
should recognize this opportunity and
adjust, realign their business models, and
embrace these emerging technologies to
create new tech-driven services for their
clients. In the future, organizations
offering next-gen technology-enabled
services at highly competitive prices will
eventually become the new norm.
OSS players should collaborate with
start-ups to improve their processes
and develop next-gen tech-based
services.
24
MENA’s digital start-ups are also a critical 71% of OSS buyers
enabler for OSS. The UAE is a widely
recognized hub for the Arab world’s digital globally believe
startups,62 at least a third of which are technology adoption
already operating in cutting edge fields of
interest to OSS players (i.e. in big data
would make 'location' a
analytics, AI, software development).63 far less relevant factor in
OSS players should collaborate with these
start-ups to improve their processes and
outsourcing decisions.
develop next-gen tech-based services. UAE OSS players
Talent acquisition, development, and therefore need to
retention is also vital to the industry’s
future. Government and OSS players leverage these
need to encourage talent attraction and exponential technologies
growth. DOC, for example, is working to
facilitate flexible employment
to compete not just
opportunities for students within the locally but also
TECOM Group Ecosystem (e.g. the Dubai internationally.
Development Authority part-time
employment visa for students at DIAC
universities) and for freelancers in the
customer service sector.64
Beyond talent, the government also
needs to work with OSS players to create
a more attractive regulatory environment.
Policies promoting technology adoption,
long-term visas, and easing compliance
requirements have been a few positive
steps made to facilitate OSS growth. With
these enablers in place, the UAE has the
potential to be a formidable international
destination for OSS.
 Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

The outlook for the UAE OSS

industry is positive as long as
buyers and suppliers keep at
the forefront of innovation.

With the right technology and

innovation enablers in place, the
UAE has the potential to be a
formidable international
destination for OSS.

25
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

Contacts
Authors and contacts: Monitor Deloitte

Emmanuel Durou Adil Parvez

TMT ME Industry Leader and Manager, TMT
Partner at Monitor Deloitte Monitor Deloitte
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) Deloitte & Touche (M.E.)
edurou@deloitte.com aparvez@deloitte.com

Authors and contacts: Dubai Outsource City

Clio Andriopoulos
Senior Manager, ICT Strategy
Dubai Internet City and
Dubai Outsource City
clio.andriopoulos@tecomgroup.ae

26
 Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook

Industry thought leadership

Deloitte

Deloitte Global Deloitte Global Cognitive

Outsourcing and Outsourcing Survey technologies
Shared Services 2018 A technical primer
Forum 2019

Deloitte Global Deloitte Global Shared

Outsourcing Survey Services Survey 2017
2016

Dubai Outsource City

Deloitte TMT Deloitte TMT DOC Outsourcing

Predictions 2019: Predictions 2019: Forum 2017
Middle East Middle East

27
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
References
1. Based on Gartner’s definition of ITO
and BPO per the latest IT Services
Blackbook 2Q 2018
2. Technavio, Gartner, Monitor Deloitte
analysis
3. Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey,
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Services Survey, 2017 edition
4. Gartner definition, 2018
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Spending by HR Business Process
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8. Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey,
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ux.pdf
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m/Deloitte/nl/Documents/financial-
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ux.pdf
12. Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey,
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28
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15. Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey,
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18. How blockchain can benefit IT
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19. DOC Outsourcing Outlook Forum 2017
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21. SSON count almost 190 shared service
centers (SSCs) across 18 countries in
their recent SSC study covering: GCC
(UAE, KSA, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain,
Oman), Levant (Lebanon, Jordan, Syria,
Iraq), North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Algeria,
Tunisia, Morocco) and Non-Arab
Countries (Israel, Iran, Turkey).
Deloitte’s definition of MENA includes
GCC, Levant and North Africa
countries, which we assume covers at
least 80% of the 190 SSCs counted
across the 18 markets (i.e. at least 152
SSCs). SSON figures in a recent forum
support this, which identifies Turkey as
representing 14% of the 190 SSCs
counted across the 18 markets
covered in their SSC study, and
classified Israel and Iran as countries
with relatively lower SSC presence (i.e.
less than 10% of the 190 SSCs
counted). Therefore, we assume Israel
and Iran to represent around 6% of
the 190 SSCs SSON counted in its
study. Sources: Dubai: MENA’s Most
Expensive Shared Services Location
Takes the Lead in Regional Growth,
SSON Analytics, Oct 2017,
https://www.sson-analytics.com/blog-
entry/dubai-mena%E2%80%99s-most-
expensive-shared-services-location-tak
es-lead-regional-growth; 6th Middle
Eastern Shared Services &
Outsourcing Forum, SSON Analytics,
Oct 2018,
https://sharedservicesmiddleeast.iqpc.
ae/; Monitor Deloitte research and
analysis
22. Based on a market scan and
consolidation of all major outsourcing
providers (mainly BPO and ITO) across
the region, cited across various
sources. Sources: Dubai Outsource
City, IDC, Gartner, Monitor Deloitte
research and analysis
23. SSON mention that the UAE
represents 27% of the 190 SSCs it
counted in its SSC study covering 18
markets. This is equivalent to around
33% of about 150 SSCs estimated
within MENA countries. Outsourcing
providers in the UAE is based on a
market scan and consolidation of all
major outsourcing providers (mainly
BPO and ITO) across the region, cited
across various sources. Sources: Dubai
Outsource City, IDC, Gartner, Monitor
Deloitte research and analysis
24. SSON mention that KSA represents
19% of the 190 SSCs it counted in its
SSC study covering 18 markets. This is
equivalent to around 24% of about
150 SSCs estimated within MENA
countries. Outsourcing providers in

KSA is based on a market scan and
consolidation of all major outsourcing
providers (mainly BPO and ITO) across
the region, cited across various
sources. Sources: Dubai Outsource
City, IDC, Gartner, Monitor Deloitte
research and analysis
25. Outsourcing supplier revenues
estimated. These are assumed to be
onshore revenues only, and does not
represent revenues earned by
outsourcing providers for offshore
outsourcing services. Source: United
Arab Emirates Cloud, Hosted,
Managed, and Outsourced Services
Market 2015 Analysis and 2016–2020
Forecast, Dec 2016, IDC
26. Outsourcing supplier revenues
estimated. These are assumed to be
onshore revenues only, and does not
represent revenues earned by
outsourcing providers for offshore
outsourcing services. Saudi Arabia
Cloud, Hosted, Managed, and
Outsourced Services Market 2015
Analysis and 2016-2020 Forecast, Dec
2016, IDC
27. Outsourcing supplier revenues
estimated. These are assumed to be
onshore revenues only, and does not
represent revenues earned by
outsourcing providers for offshore
outsourcing services. Source: United
Arab Emirates Cloud, Hosted,
Managed, and Outsourced Services
Market 2015 Analysis and 2016–2020
Forecast, Dec 2016, IDC
28. SSON mention that the UAE
represents 27% of the 190 SSCs it
counted in its SSC study covering 18
markets. This is equivalent to around
33% of about 150 SSCs estimated
within MENA countries. Outsourcing
providers in the UAE is based on a
market scan and consolidation of all
major outsourcing providers (mainly
BPO and ITO) across the region, cited
across various sources. Sources: Dubai
Outsource City, IDC, Gartner, Monitor
Deloitte research and analysis
29. SSON mention that KSA represents
19% of the 190 SSCs it counted in its
SSC study covering 18 markets. This is
equivalent to around 24% of about
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
150 SSCs estimated within MENA
countries. Outsourcing providers in
KSA is based on a market scan and
consolidation of all major outsourcing
providers (mainly BPO and ITO) across
the region, cited across various
sources. Sources: Dubai Outsource
City, IDC, Gartner, Monitor Deloitte
research and analysis
30. Outsourcing supplier revenues
estimated. These are assumed to be
onshore revenues only, and does not
represent revenues earned by
outsourcing providers for offshore
outsourcing services. Saudi Arabia
Cloud, Hosted, Managed, and
Outsourced Services Market 2015
Analysis and 2016-2020 Forecast, Dec
2016, IDC
31. Dubai: MENA’s Most Expensive Shared
Services Location Takes the Lead in
Regional Growth, SSON Analytics, Oct
2017, https://www.sson-
analytics.com/blog-entry/dubai-
mena%E2%80%99s-most-expensive-s
hared-services-location-takes-lead-
regional-growth
32. Azadea launches first shared Service
Center in Jordan, Trade Arabia, May
2017,
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/RET
_324956.html
33. Intelenet opens a new Global Delivery
Center in Jordan, Business Wire, Sept
2018,
https://www.businesswire.com/news/h
ome/20180908005014/en/Intelenet-
opens-new-Global-Delivery-Center-
Jordan; Note: Intelenet was recently
acquired by Teleperformance D.I.B.S.
and therefore now owns the delivery
center setup in Jordan
34 Dubai: MENA’s Most Expensive Shared
Services Location Takes the Lead in
Regional Growth, SSON Analytics,
October 2017, https://www.sson-
analytics.com/blog-entry/dubai-
mena%E2%80%99s-most-expensive-sh
ared-services-location-takes-lead-
regional-growth
35. Deloitte estimates and forecasts
36. Public Consultation on cloud first
policy strategy and guidelines, UAE
Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority, Oct 2018,
https://www.tra.gov.ae/userfiles/assets/
QqQuIA0SR5C.pdf
37.Cloud Competitiveness Index 2017,
MENA Cloud Alliance, 2017,
https://www.menacloud.org/Doc/MENA
CA%20CCI%20(c).pdf
38. Economic and social impacts of Google
Cloud, Google & Deloitte, 2018,
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/da
m/Deloitte/es/Documents/tecnologia/
Deloitte_ES_tecnologia_economic-and-
social-impacts-of-google-cloud.pdf
39. Economic and social impacts of Google
Cloud, Google & Deloitte, 2018,
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/da
m/Deloitte/es/Documents/tecnologia/
Deloitte_ES_tecnologia_economic-and-
social-impacts-of-google-cloud.pdf
40. How the cloud will create nearly
32,000 jobs in the UAE, IDC (via The
National), Jan 2019,
https://www.thenational.ae/business/t
echnology/how-the-cloud-will-create-
nearly-32-000-jobs-in-the-uae-
1.808495; UAE cloud service market
set to cross Dh1b, Frost & Sullivan (via
Khaleej Times), Sept 2017:
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae-
cloud-service-market-set-to-cross-
dh1b
41. Middle East: RPA Benchmarking Survey
2019, 3rd Annual RPA & Intelligent
Automation Middle East Conference,
IPQC and SSON Analytics, 2019,
https://roboticprocessautomation.iqpc.
ae/downloads/rpa-benchmarking-
survey-2019
42. Middle East: RPA Benchmarking Survey
2019, 3rd Annual RPA & Intelligent
Automation Middle East Conference,
IPQC and SSON Analytics, 2019,
https://roboticprocessautomation.iqpc.
ae/downloads/rpa-benchmarking-
survey-2019
43. Transformative productivity efficiency
of over 30% via robotic process
automation is Teleperformance
D.I.B.S.’s focus at UAE's MECC 2018,
Business Wire, Apr 2018,
https://www.businesswire.com/news/h
ome/20180424005699/en/Transforma
tive%C2%A0productivity-efficiency-
30%C2%A0via-robotic-process-
29
Outsourcing and Shared Services 2019-2023 | Global, Middle East and UAE industry outlook
automation-Intelenets
44. UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence,
UAE Government, 2018,
https://government.ae/en/about-the-
uae/strategies-initiatives-and-
awards/federal-governments-strategie
s-and-plans/uae-strategy-for-artificial-
intelligence
45. Introducing Eva – Emirates NBD Virtual
Assistant, Emirates NBD,
https://www.emiratesnbd.com/en/pers
onal-banking/ways-of-banking/phone-
banking/eva/; Mashreq introduces to
customers UAE’s first chatbot, Zawya,
Dec 2016,
https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/com
panies/story/Mashreq_introduces_to_c
ustomers_UAEs_first_chatbot-
ZAWYA20161207135309/; DEWA
announces new version of Rammas
chatbot, ITP, Mar 2018,
http://www.itp.net/616732-dewa-
announces-new-version-of-rammas-
chatbot
46. Dubai unveils its first cognitive
computing service using IBM’s ‘Watson’
technology to support business license
registration, MENA Herald, Oct 2016,
https://www.menaherald.com/en/busin
ess/events-services/dubai-unveils-its-
first-cognitive-computing-service-
using-ibm%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98
watson%E2%80%99
47. Dubai unveils its first cognitive
computing service using IBM’s ‘Watson’
technology to support business license
registration, MENA Herald, Oct 2016,
https://www.menaherald.com/en/busin
ess/events-services/dubai-unveils-its-
first-cognitive-computing-service-
using-ibm%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98
watson%E2%80%99
48. Middle East: RPA Benchmarking Survey
2019, 3rd Annual RPA & Intelligent
Automation Middle East Conference,
IPQC and SSON Analytics, 2019,
https://roboticprocessautomation.iqpc.
ae/downloads/rpa-benchmarking-
survey-2019
49. Middle East: RPA Benchmarking Survey
2019, 3rd Annual RPA & Intelligent
Automation Middle East Conference,
IPQC and SSON Analytics, 2019,
https://roboticprocessautomation.iqpc.
30
ae/downloads/rpa-benchmarking-
survey-2019
50. IDC forecasts spending on cognitive
and AI systems in Middle East and
Africa (MEA) to grow from $38 million
in 2017 to reach $114 million by the
end of 2021 (31.7% CAGR). We
assumed the UAE represents close to
30% of this spend as: (a) the UAE is a
major market overall in the MEA
region, (b) the UAE is the leading
market in the region for AI adoption
and spend, (c) AI adoption and spend
is closely related to OSS market share,
and (d) the UAE represents close to
30% of the region’s OSS market (the
UAE holds close to 30% of SSCs in the
MEA region according to SSON).
Source: Monitor Deloitte research and
analysis, SSON Analytics, Spending on
cognitive and AI systems to reach
$37.5m this year, Gulf News, Nov 2017,
https://gulfnews.com/technology/spen
ding-on-cognitive-and-ai-systems-to-
reach-375m-this-year-1.2117547
51. Spending on cognitive and AI systems
to reach $37.5m this year, Gulf News,
Nov 2017,
https://gulfnews.com/technology/spen
ding-on-cognitive-and-ai-systems-to-
reach-375m-this-year-1.2117547
52. Spending on cognitive and AI systems
to reach $37.5m this year, Gulf News,
Nov 2017,
https://gulfnews.com/technology/spen
ding-on-cognitive-and-ai-systems-to-
reach-375m-this-year-1.2117547
53. Spending on cognitive and AI systems
to reach $37.5m this year, Gulf News,
Nov 2017,
https://gulfnews.com/technology/spen
ding-on-cognitive-and-ai-systems-to-
reach-375m-this-year-1.2117547
54. UAE SMEs set to boost GDP share to
70 per cent: Al Mansouri, Mar 2016,
Khaleej Times,
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/busines
s/economy/uae-smes-set-to-boost-
gdp-share-to-70-per-cent-al-mansouri
55. UAE SMEs set to boost GDP share to
70 per cent: Al Mansouri, Mar 2016,
Khaleej Times,
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/busines
s/economy/uae-smes-set-to-boost-
gdp-share-to-70-per-cent-al-mansouri
56. The Cloud Report: Navigating The
Cloud as a Dubai Start-Up, Dubai
Technology Entrepreneurship Centre
(Dtec), 2017, https://dtec.ae/wp-
content/uploads/2018/04/The-Cloud-
Report-2017-Final.pdf
57. Transguard launches outsourcing
solutions for SMEs, Arabian Business,
Feb 2018,
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/star
tup/389936-transguard-launches-
outsourcing-solutions-for-smes
58. Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021,
UAE Government Portal, Apr 2018,
https://government.ae/en/about-the-
uae/strategies-initiatives-and-
awards/federal-governments-strategie
s-and-plans/emirates-blockchain-
strategy-2021
59. Need measured steps on public
services outsourcing, Gulf News, Mar
2016,
https://gulfnews.com/business/analysis
/need-measured-steps-on-public-
services-outsourcing-1.1688356
60. Outsourcing presents opportunity for
growth, Khaleej Times, Apr 2016,
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/g
eneral/outsourcing-presents-
opportunity-for-growth
61. Happiness, UAE Government Portal,
Mar 2016,
https://government.ae/en/about-the-
uae/the-uae-
government/government-of-future/ha
ppiness
62. Arabian Business, May 2018,
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/ban
king-finance/395574-uae-confirmed-
as-regional-hub-for-digital-start-ups
63. The Cloud Report: Navigating The
Cloud as a Dubai Start-Up, Dubai
Technology Entrepreneurship Centre
(Dtec), 2017, https://dtec.ae/wp-
content/uploads/2018/04/The-Cloud-
Report-2017-Final.pdf
64. Go Freelance, TECOM Group and the
Dubai Development Authority
introduced new freelance packages
including for Customer Support
functions, 2018, https://dtec.ae/wp-
content/uploads/2018/04/The-Cloud-
Report-2017-Final.pdf
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to as “Deloitte Global”) and each of its member firms are legally separate and
independent entities. DTTL does not provide services to clients. Please see
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Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) (DME) would be pleased to advise readers on how to
apply the principles set out in this publication to their specific circumstances.
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) accepts no duty of care or liability for any loss
occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any
material in this publication.
DME is a licensed member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL)
and is a leading professional services firm established in the Middle East region
with uninterrupted presence since 1926. DME’s presence in the Middle East
region is established through its affiliated independent legal entities, which are
licensed to operate and to provide services under the applicable laws and
regulations of the relevant country. DME’s affiliates and related entities cannot
oblige each other and/or DME, and when providing services, each affiliate and
related entity engages directly and independently with its own clients and shall
only be liable for its own acts or omissions and not those of any other affiliate.
Dubai Outsource City (DOC) is a specialised business community
embedded deep within Dubai’s outsourcing landscape. Since its
launch in 2007, DOC has grown to become a premier destination
for the delivery of outsourced services, and has made significant
contributions towards the development of the regional
outsourcing industry through partnerships with major industry
players such as Emirates Airlines, Dunia Finance, Manpower
Group, Teleperformance and Cupola Group.
Companies of all sizes can set up within DOC to gain access to
an 8,000-strong network of skilled workers, experienced service
providers, and top-ranked global talent. Through its integrated
business framework, organisations based in DOC can source
all their outsourcing requirements through a single centralised
community which is closely linked to start-ups, SMEs,
international brands and Fortune 500 firms through its affiliation
with Dubai Internet City (DIC).
By supporting over 160 companies in a multitude of areas
including HR, IT, banking, travel and tourism, business process
outsourcing (BPO), IT outsourcing (ITO) and shared services
centres, DOC gives individuals across the world a platform to
connect, share knowledge and exchange ideas.
Dubai Outsource City is one of 11 business communities
managed by TECOM Group (formerly known as TECOM
Investments), a member of Dubai Holding. TECOM Group is a
strategic business enabler that reinforces Dubai’s position as a
global hub for business and commerce through sector-focused
business communities and state-of-the-art work environments,
which are collectively home to 5,600 companies and a workforce
of 90,000.

DME provides audit and assurance, tax, consulting, financial advisory and risk
advisory services through 25 offices in 14 countries with more than 3,300
partners, directors and staff. It has also received numerous awards in the last
few years which include, Middle East Best Continuity and Resilience provider
(2016), World Tax Awards (2017), Best Advisory and Consultancy Firm (2016),
the Middle East Training & Development Excellence Award by the Institute of
Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), as well as the best CSR
integrated organization.

Monitor Deloitte is the strategy service line of Deloitte’s consulting practice

across different licensed member firms globally and in the Middle East. From
strategy through execution, Monitor Deloitte helps deliver improved
performance by increasing growth and de-risking strategic choices through our
strategy professionals who employ cutting-edge approaches embedded with
deep industry expertise, working with leaders to resolve critical choices, and
drive enterprise value.

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